Patient transfer mattresses have an inflatable plenum and discharge air through a plurality of holes in a bottom sheet to create a cushion of air beneath the mattress. The air cushion lifts and facilitates movement of the mattress with respect to a bed or other support surface. Some contemporary examples of patient transfer mattresses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,189 (Weedling et al), reissued as U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,299, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,873 (Weedling).
Patients, particularly those that are morbidly obese, often have coexisting physical conditions that make it unhealthy for the patient to lay in a flat supine condition for extended lengths of time. Obesity can contribute to respiratory difficulty as the lungs are compressed by the heavy chest wall making it difficult for the lungs to lift and expand to inhale. This breathing difficulty can aggravate other conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).
For these reasons obese patients, particularly those with COPD or CHF, can have a stressful time while lying flat during diagnostic procedures or while being transferred from one rest surface to another. Arterial blood gas levels for obese patients maintained in a supine condition can increase to a level that impairs proper circulation of oxygen. For patients with CHF, the heart may not be able to adequately pump blood throughout the body, and blood may accumulate in the lungs, causing shortness of breath, fatigue, and edema of the extremities. When the lungs become congested with fluid, the resulting shortness of breath frequently causes CHF patients to experience sleep interruptions.
Patient treatment often requires endotracheal intubation. Direct visualization of the larynx using a rigid laryngoscope constitutes the primary procedure of achieving endotracheal intubation, and the procedure is called laryngoscopy. Successful laryngoscopy is contingent upon alignment of the oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal axes. In this position, sometimes referred to as the “sniffing position”, the patient's head is slightly extended and the occiput is elevated. Placing a patient in the proper intubation position by manual manipulation is somewhat difficult, however, and the difficulty increases when the patient is obese.
Consequently, others have developed body support devices to facilitate endotracheal intubation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,757 (Watson) discloses a cushion that can be used to position a patient's head and neck to facilitate endotracheal intubation. The cushion, however, supports only the head and neck and does not support the torso of the patient to provide a full support system for achieving the sniffing position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,783 discloses a wedge-shaped head and torso support including an inflatable bladder. The bladder is adjustable to provide for partial inflation as well as full inflation. The support includes only one bladder and, therefore, is incapable of providing elevation of the head independently from that of the torso.